Large shallow inlets bays (according to Habitats Directive Annex I) are large, shallow indentations of the coast, sheltered from wave action and where, in contrast to estuaries, the influence of freshwater is generally limited. The distribution map is based on data submission by HELCOM contracting parties. Most of the submitted data is based on GIS analysis and modelling, but also field inventories and ground-truthing has been carried out in some areas. Data coverage, accuracy and the methods in obtaining the data vary between countries.

The data set is showing staging areas for migrating sea and shore birds in the Baltic Sea area as polygons used for the BRISK project (Sub-regional risk of spill of oil and hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea, http://www.brisk.helcom.fi/). This dataset has been produced by COWI (http://www.cowi.dk) based on data collected from Baltic Sea countries (Denmark, Estonia, Finland (Copyright: SYKE), Germany, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Sweden). The dataset includes data provided by the BRISK Project Partner organisations. The detailed documentation of what partner provided what data is given in the Annex of the document: 70618-3.1.2.2 Data Collection Report.

Observations of Myosotella myosotis were collected from the Baltic Sea area for HELCOM Red List species list. The HELCOM Red List of Baltic Sea species in danger of becoming extinct (2013) is the first threat assessment for Baltic Sea species that covers all marine mammals, fish, birds, macrophytes (aquatic plants), and benthic invertebrates, and follows the Red List criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Almost 2800 species were considered in the Red List assessment and about 1750 were evaluated according to the IUCN Red List criteria. Myosotella myosotis has been placed to the Red List category of Data Deficient (DD) species. Dataset for download contains spatial grid of the Baltic Sea. Distribution of the species can be found in corresponding name column. Values are coded: 1 - Present before year 2000 or in 2000, 2 - Present after year 2000, 3 - Present both before and after year 2000.

This dataset contains data used for the HELCOM Core indicator State of the soft-bottom macrofauna community 2018. Attribute information: "SampleID" = Sample ID "Station" = Station name "Year" = Year of sampling event "Latitude" = Latitude coordinate (WGS84 decimal degrees) "Longitude" = Longitude coordinate (WGS84 decimal degrees) "Depth" = Depth of station (m) "Sentivit" = Sensitivity subset "Sampling_a" = Sampling area (cm2) "Sieve_mesh" = Sive mesh size (microm) "BQI" = Benthic quality index value "Data sourc" = Source of data (national monitoring / other) "Data_origi" = Data providing organization "Country" = Data providing country "Assessment" = HELCOM Level 2 assessment unit where the station resides

This core indicator evaluates the status of coastal sea areas of the Baltic Sea based on the abundance of sea trout parr in rivers where they breed. The determination of whether good status is reached is based on a comparison of the observed parr densities in rearing habitats with the reference potential parr densities in the specified habitats. This dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 3 (Division of the Baltic Sea into 17 sub-basins and further division into coastal and offshore areas). Attribute information: "HELCOM_ID" = ID of the HELCOM scale 3 assessment unit "level_2" = Name of the HELCOM scale 2 assessment unit "level_3" = Name of HELCOM scale 3 assessment unit "ICES Subdivision" = ICES assessment unit number "Area (km2)" = Area of the HELCOM scale 3 assessment unit "Indicator_" = Name of the indicator "Unit" = Unit of the indicator "Type" = 1 = boundary values increase/decrease monotonically, 2 = optimum range indicator "Status" = Status of the indicator (“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”) "ConfA" = Confidence of classification "ConfT" = Temporal confidence of classification "ConfS" = Spatial confidence of classification "ConfM" = Methodological confidence of classification "notes" = additional info "AULEVEL" = Assessment unit level used for the indicator

This dataset describes fishing effort (hours/c-square) for all gear types in second quarter of 2013 based on VMS/Log book data processed by ICES Working Group on Spatial Fisheries Data (WGSFD). HELCOM requires spatially explicit information on fishing activity affecting the Baltic Sea marine ecosystem for policy purposes. In order to obtain this information a joint ICES/HELCOM/OSPAR data call was issued to relevant authorities of contracting parties to deliver information on fishing activity based on VMS/Log book data. The raw data was submitted to ICES and processed to advice data products by ICES Working Group for Spatial Fisheries (WGSFD) as requested by HELCOM. Processing of the raw data requires specific resources, knowledge and guarantee of anonymity for specific vessels, thus the process was done by ICES WGSFD following Conditions for VMS data use. In 2015 ICES collated Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) and logbook data received; data from Russia were not received. ICES provided to HELCOM advice as fishing abrasion pressure maps as well as fishing effort maps. HELCOM secretariat did the following processing to the data: - Conversion to ETRS89LAEA coordinate system - Added feature and attribute "Reported" to display unreported areas. Dataset attribute information: c-square: Unique reference of the c-square polygon mid_lat: latitude coordinate of the centroid of c-square inWGS84 decimal degrees mid_lon: longitude coordinate of the centroid of c-square inWGS84 decimal degrees Year: Year of fishing activity quarter: Quarter of the year, if applicable geargroup: Fishing gear group (Effort maps) SubsurfSAR: Subsurface swept area ratio (Intensity maps) SurfSAR: Surface swept area ratio (Intensity maps) Fishing_ho: Total fishing effort in hours within c-square (Effort maps) Reported: Yes=Reported data. No= No reported data (area that does not contain effort/intensity value due to lack of reported data.

Observations of Orchestia gammarellus were collected from the Baltic Sea area for HELCOM Red List species list. The HELCOM Red List of Baltic Sea species in danger of becoming extinct (2013) is the first threat assessment for Baltic Sea species that covers all marine mammals, fish, birds, macrophytes (aquatic plants), and benthic invertebrates, and follows the Red List criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Almost 2800 species were considered in the Red List assessment and about 1750 were evaluated according to the IUCN Red List criteria. Orchestia gammarellus has been placed to the Red List category of Data Deficient (DD) species. Dataset for download contains spatial grid of the Baltic Sea. Distribution of the species can be found in corresponding name column. Values are coded: 1 - Present before year 2000 or in 2000, 2 - Present after year 2000, 3 - Present both before and after year 2000.

This core indicator evaluates the status of abundance of wintering waterbirds in the Baltic Sea region. The wintering waterbirds are considered to reflect good status when at least 75% of the considered species deviate less than 30% downwards (species laying more than one egg per year) or 20% downwards (species laying one egg per year) from the baseline condition during the reference period 1991-2000. The dataset contains the compilation of the abundance of coastal waterbirds in the wintering season and offshore from the data submitted by HELCOM contracting parties to the data call for HOLAS 3. Data was received from DE, EE, PL, SE).

This service contains background datasets published by HELCOM, e.g. marine and terrestrial boundaries and drainage areas. The service is created with ArcGIS Server 10.9 and can be accessed via ArcGIS REST interface or OGC WMS. The service is used by HELCOM Map and Data service.

This dataset contains coastal fish key species and key functional group indicator data collected from national coastal fish monitoring programs as coordinated under HELCOM FISH PRO, FISH PRO II, FISH PRO III and EG Coastal Fish and used for HELCOM coastal fish indicator and thematic assessments. HELCOM Coastal fish core indicator database (COOL) contains updated data used in coastal fish core indicators for every current monitoring station in the Baltic Sea and information on the latest status assessment for the two coastal fish indicators: https://indicators.helcom.fi/indicator/coastal-fish-key-groups/ https://indicators.helcom.fi/indicator/coastal-fish-key-species/ The collection of monitoring data is described in the Monitoring guideline: https://helcom.fi/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/HELCOM-Guidelines-for-coastal-fish-monitoring-2019.pdf The database was originally developed in BalticBoost project (https://helcom.fi/helcom-at-work/projects/balticboost/) Theme 1: Biodiversity, which focused on creating a biodiversity assessment tool and improving data arrangements for the biodiversity elements where this is limited (e.g. coastal fish, birds and seals) so that a comprehensive assessment of biodiversity in the Baltic Sea can be carried out by 2018. The dataset is divided to pointwise observations where values are collected from one single location and polygon areas where values reflect larger area (ICES squares). The data is reported by national representatives of HELCOM EG Coastal Fish and validated annually in the group meeting and hosted by HELCOM Secretariat. Attributes: ID = Unique identifier of observation Country = Country of organization carrying out monitoring (in ISO 2-digit country codes) Organization = Organization carrying out monitoring AreaID = ID of monitoring areas AreaName = Name of monitored area Latitude = Latitude coordinate of monitoring site in WGS84 decimal degrees Longitude = Longitude coordinate of monitoring site in WGS84 decimal degrees L3_AssessmentUnit = HELCOM Level3 assessment unit Year = Year of observation IndicatorName = Indicator which the obsrevation value is related to IndicatorValue = Indicator value as in CPUE/WPUE Species = Key coastal fish species tthat indicator value applies to FunctionalGroup = Key coastal fish functional group that indicator value applies to Method = Monitoring method Geartype = Gear type used for monitoring Season = Season of monitoring RegistrationDate = Date when observation was included in the Coastal fish database